Dragon Quest 8: Journey of the Cursed King
by Van-Stolin
Summary: When a curse enguls the kingdom of Trodain it is up to four young companions, each with a reason of their own, to stop the darkness from overtaking their world. Drama, Laughs and adventure await you. Step into the of Dragon Quest.


**Dragon Quest 8: The Journey of the Cursed King**

It was a bright and sunny afternoon I had just sent out my mouse Munchie to scout out the towns location. Right now we were resting in a grove in the forest it was pretty nice. There was a pool of water and it was good to rest after the long time we had walked.

"Oy' guv! When ya' think yer pet be getting back?" Asked the man next to me, he was a stocky man. He wore puffy blue striped pants and a brown fur vest displaying his hairy chest. He wore some kind of spiky shell on his head like a helmet.

As if to answer his question Munchie had just run into the clearing, right in front of our other friend, he was green and warty and wrapped in an orange cloak, he didn't like Munchie too much, just calling him a pest. He snarled at him, so it was no surprise when Munchie let out a surprised squeak and raced back to his favorite hiding place, my pocket.

Ah, I didn't introduce myself, my name is Van and I am the retainer to King Trode of the kingdom of Trodain. Currently I was on a very important mission for the sake of my kingdom and was accompanied by three people. Yangus, a former bandit who had decided to go straight, the King of Trodain, Trode, our little green friend and the Princess Medea. What do I look like? Well, I have black hair and black eyes. I have gray pants and a blue shirt that was long enough to cover my waist. A belt held it in place and attached to the belt was my personal satchel of items. Next I have a yellow jacket with a pocket on the right side. This pocket only had one use, a resting place for Munchie. Across my back was my weapon holder; it had places for quite a few weapons actually. A strap to attach a sword sheath, a clip for spears, which was easy to unlock just by pulling on the spear and a slip for a boomerang.

I currently only had a sword.

"Oy! Guv!" said Yangus.

"Yeah." I relied.

"It's gonna get dark if we 'ang about 'ere much longer. Let's 'ead inta town. There's better places than this to spend an evenin'!"

I sighed, he was right it was starting to get dark, the sky already a bright red.

"Shake a leg, guv!" Yangus yelled.

I sighed again as I pushed off my stump and stood up.

I quickly put both our barrels in the carriage and went to talk to Yangus and King Trode.

"I've prob'ly said it before, but it beats me 'ow you ended up workin' for and old codger like 'im! Not that I can talk, though, eh! Guess people say the same thing about me workin' for you." Yangus said nodding to himself. I laughed, we really hadn't been together that long, but Yangus had really grown attached to this little group.

"Hm? Old codger? I do hope you're not referring to me!" said our troll looking friend as he got up off the ground and turned to face Yangus with a glare. "What would you know? A lowlife like you wouldn't recognize nobility if it came up and bit you on the…arrgh!" He growled, not wanting to finish what he was going to say, but getting the point across nonetheless.

Yangus didn't take to kindly to the words and glared at the old man.

Just as a fight was about to break out Trode stopped and exclaimed. "Enough dilly-dallying! Van! Where's the Princess? I can't see her anywhere…"

Indeed we couldn't find her anywhere around, it is strange that she would just wander off on her own.

Just then there was a rustling in the bushes and three creatures rushed out. They were small, blue and jiggly. They were known as slimes as shown in the guide to monsters that we always kept with us.

"Uh-oh! Here comes trouble, guv!" Said Yangus as he pulled the wooden club off his back and brandished it. I pulled my own weapon and leapt into the fray.

I attacked the one on the left and Yangus the one in the middle. The slimes couldn't move fast enough and were cut and bashed, they fell into a slimy puddle and burst into small blue particles of light. The last slime tried to hit me, but its weak body didn't do any damage. I slashed it, but it moved to the side and I didn't hit anything vital. Yangus followed up the hit with a fierce bash that sent the slime sailing through the sky.

We sheathed our weapons. It was then that I noticed that the slime I had hit had dropped something, it was a tiny herb. It must have eaten it and slashing it had made it drop it. I knew these to be medical herbs, they healed wounds. It would be good to keep for later. The particles of light were still in the air. This was a monsters essence that it left behind when defeated. For many people, this stuff was useless and if left alone, the monster would return again, good as new, as if nothing had really happened to it. This took years though.

For others though, there was another use for it. They were able to take in the monsters essence and convert it to their own energy. They gained power from it. Yangus and I both took in our fair share, it wasn't much, but every little bit counts.

"Well…they certainly took us by surprise. But nothing we couldn't handle, eh?" said our trolly king. Our victory was short lived though as he looked around in surprise. "Now, where's the Princess? Where's my Medea? My precious one and only daughter?"

Again as if to answer his question she trod into the clearing from across the bridge. A beautiful white horse with a brown mane.

"Ah! There you are! Thank goodness you're safe, Medea!

Before you get any ideas, our friend is not delusional. The horse really is a princess and he is a king. They were cursed by an evil wizard and we are on a journey to find him and get him to remove the curse. Once we do that, it's back to Trodain.

"Aye-aye, the 'orse-princess is back… I say we make a move now, before it gets dark." Said Yangus, I looked over to him and nodded, it was starting to get even darker then it was before.

We packed up the remaining supplies and set forth. Medea pulled the carriage, but she didn't mind. Once we were out of the grove we were on a path, to the right, Trodain castle to the left was our next destination, Farebury. We had only traveled a little ways down the trail before we could see the town. Yangus ran up top a hill to look at the town, there was a large pillar of smoke rising from it and I couldn't help but wonder what was going on. The town itself was something to look at, it was on an island surrounded by a moat, the moat wasn't wide, but it was great for irrigation. There was also a high wall, which was used to keep monsters out.

We pulled up to the doors and they opened for us. We passed by the market place and people stared as we went past, Trode, that would be the king, waved at them, but they didn't return the wave. He was pretty ugly, so it was no surprise. The houses were made of wood here, but they were well crafted. The roofs had gutters for collecting rainwater and poured it into buckets that the town's people kept. Seems that sometimes there were droughts in the area.

We finally pulled into the town square and stopped. Trode leapt from his seat on the carriage and stared around. "Yes. Yes! Here we are. If my memory serves me correctly, this is the place. This is the town where Master Rylus lives."

Yangus perked up. "Hold yer 'orses, granddad! I thought it was Dhoulmagus we was after."

"I AM NOT YOUR GRANDAD! And of course Dhoulmagus is our man! He's the one who turned Medea and I into such laughing stocks!" King Trode yelled. "But that dastardly magician can't hide from us forever! We must track him down and lift this confounded curse! Oh! Just look at my poor Medea! And we'd only just settled on her engagement to the Prince of Argonia… Oh, that despicable Dhoulmagus!

He finished his rant and turned to me. "That's why it's imperative we locate Rylus! Will you go and find him, Van?"

I nodded my head shakily. I didn't know anything about this town, but Trode knew that in his current form he wouldn't get much out of the towns folk and Yangus wasn't much of a one for conversation with people he didn't know without starting fistfights.

"That's the spirit! I knew I could rely on you, Van! I'll be waiting here."

I turned toward Yangus and told him to come along. I didn't want to get caught in anything I couldn't get out of and Yangus was always good at that sort of thing. We really were sort of a brains and brawn team.

"Crikey! I dunno wot the old codger's on about sometimes!" I knew what he meant, he didn't know why finding Rylus was important, but I knew. "Sounds to me like we 'ave to find that Rylus geezer, right? So what are we waitin' for?

Now here is the thing. Rylus was Dhoulmagus' teacher, he taught him everything he knows, so if anyone were to know where Dhoulmagus was it would be Rylus, we decided to start our search at the local tavern, there was always good gossip there and maybe Rylus was already there, knocking back a pint.

We walked through the town, people didn't give us as many stares as they did Trode, but still it made me uncomfortable. This part of town was much different then the market. Instead of wood, these houses were made out of stone and the ground was cobble. It was quite the contrast. We walked up the town's steps and looked around. There was a weapon shop to the right of us and a few houses for the people, they were fairly large and looked like they could hold at least 4 if needed. To our far right was a large building with a gold fork looking object. I knew this to be a rosary so that must be the church. We then went down the ally between the weapon shop and the house on our left and found the bar right in front of us, we could tell by the big mug of ale on the sign, a little swishing arrow let us know that the entrance was around the side.

The bar was lively tonight. Many a character was there. The waitress were dressed in Bunny girl outfit, at least I think they were outfits, you can never tell sometimes in this world. We asked around, but people weren't listening to us, doing their own thing. They would just shove us off. Yangus wanted to pound them, but I held him back.

It was then that we sort of stumbled into a conversation the barkeep was having with a customer with big black hair, he was wearing what seemed to be gypsy clothes, they were yellow with flame designs on the sleeves and around the bottom of his shirt. His pants were purple and puffy; he also wore various chains and necklaces.

"Haven't you had enough, Mr. Kalderasha, sir? I'm sorry, but I've got a business to run. This, er, haphazard fortune-telling of yours is costing me a fortune in free drinks!" Heh, seems that the bar keep has some bets going with this guy and because he can see the future, he always gets his drinks free.

He seemed to get really mad at the bar keeps comments though and slammed his fist into the bar top. "WHAT? My fortune telling… Haphazard? Are you a complete fool? Let me tell you something, all fortune telling is 'haphazard'! What do you expect?" He asked his rhetorical question. He stopped for a second and picked up his drink.

"Anyway, so what if I saw it? So what if I foretold the fire? If I tried to stop it, then what? It would only have led to another disaster, that's what!" He exclaimed.

"I'm sorry, Mr. Kalderasha, sir. I don't follow… If you're saying you knew about the fire, shouldn't you at least have warned Master Rylus?"

"Yes… Poor Rylus… How many times I argued with the old man… I cannot believe he is gone…"

I couldn't believe my ears, Rylus had died, in the fire. And this man could have saved him, darn it, how could he not have warned him. Was it because he hated the old man, or was it something else. I had to find out. I went up to the man.

"What? What is it?" He asked as I approached. He stared at me hard for a second and rose from his seat, I backed up slightly.

"Hmm? …You! Come, show your face to the Great Kalderasha! Yes! Yeeesss!"

Just then a man burst into the bar and exclaimed "Q-Quick, quick! Everyone come quick! There's a monster in town!" I knew right then who he was referring to, it was one of the same people that we had seen when we first came into town.

"What?" The others of the bar shouted.

"Just come and see the whole town's gone crazy!" The man at the door shouted back.

Everyone raced out the door, me and Yangus weren't to far behind them.

We ran out the bar and down the alleyway. We tried to go down the stairs, but a man blocked our path.

"You can't go down there, there's a monster down there you know."

Darn, looks like we have to find another way down. I remembered that there was a staircase by the market we had walked through when we first came to this town. It might not be blocked over there.

"Yangus, come on this way!" I said as I pointed to the right. He understood and ran with me.

"Good idea guv, they probably forgot to block this way off."

Sure enough they hadn't, we descended the stairs as fast as we could and rounded the bend and came onto the most cruelest scene.

"Wot the…?" Exclaimed Yangus. "This ain't good, guv! Come on!"

I came out of my stupor of staring at the scene and faced Yangus.

"Look lively!" I nodded and we ran in to help.

Trode had been surrounded by the town's people and they were all gocking at him.

"Urgh! It looked at me!" I heard one say. "Ewww! It's hideous!" Another exclaimed.

"Get out! Get out, monster! You're not welcome here!" Said the man who had bust into the bar, he was soon joined by the shouting of the other townsfolk.

They then started to throw rocks at the poor King and we were afraid they would kill him. But then Medea stood in the path of the rocks and they stopped throwing. This finally allowed us to push through the crowd and get to our poor friends. The towns peoples cries of "Get out" could be heard all the way to the market entrance.

I looked at the moon, and wondered why people had to be so cruel. Trode spoke up. "Well! That was a fine reception! Don't they realize who I am?" He shouted as he started to stomp his foot in the grass.

"Hmph! Judging a book by its cover! Don't they know it's what's inside that counts?" Apparently not.

"Yeah! You can say that again!" Said Yangus in agreement while nodding his head.

Trode stopped stomping, seemingly over his fit of anger, he turned toward me. "So then, Van, did you manage to find Master Rylus?"

I fidgeted for a second, the King was not going to like this news.

"Yeah we did." Trode's face lit up. "But he's dead." It sank like a rock in the river and then turned to shock.

"What? He's dead? Oh, no, no, no…" Trode walked a ways a bit away from us, he seemed to think about something and then turned back. "Well…I suppose there's no point crying over spilt milk…It's Dhoulmagus we're after! He's the one who cursed the Princess and I, after all. He's the one who made us look so ridiculous!" He certainly changes gears really fast. "I had hoped that Rylus might be able to help us locate him. But it seems we'll just have to track Dhoulmagus down by ourselves." Right, that was the plan, but know what do we do. "With Rylus gone, we have nothing further to gain from staying here. Let's be on our way!" Finished Trode as he turned toward the carriage, we moved to follow, but a voice called out.

"Wait" We all turned toward this mysterious newcomer. It was a young girl with long purple hair, she was wearing a plain dress and had her hands held in prayer. "Please wait." She begged "I'm sorry to come running after you like this. It's just that…I wanted to ask you a favour." This should be good, I almost rolled my eyes.

Yangus and Trode looked at each other for a second before Trode looked back to the girl and asked. "Are you not afraid of me, young lady?"

"I dreamt about you…I dreamt about some people came to town with a strange creature. It was…sort of halfway between a human and a monster…and I dreamt that they could make wishes come true…" Oh, now this was really getting good. Prophetic dreams only go so far and it stopped there, we were no wish granters, at least I think Trode couldn't grant wishes, maybe I should ask later.

"A strange creature?" Trode exclaimed while Yangus laughed like a lunatic. "Are you referring to me?"

"I'm so sorry! I didn't mean to be rude!" Trode glared at Yangus for his laughter, which shut him up and make him look away, while he pretended to pick his nose.

"Heh, not to worry. I've had worse things said to me today! You know, you remind me of my Medea. You're about the same age." Indeed he was right, they were about the same age. Oh, how do I know? Well, the Princess and I are actually very good friends, we have known each other ever since we were little. 10 years we have played and shared secrets. Most of the reason I am on this quest is to return her to normal; I can't stand the thought of her being stuck as a horse. "Anyway, you say you had a dream about me? Most peculiar…"

"I'm sorry… I haven't even introduced myself. I'm Valentina, daughter of the great fortune teller, Kalderasha." Ah, it makes sense now, of course she should have a little of her fathers powers. "If you could just come to my house, I'll explain everything there. It's by the well, at the far end of town. I'll be waiting for you!" She said as she turned and ran back to the village.

King Trode seemed to tremble with excitement while Yangus looked as confused as ever.

"Wot was she rabbitin' on about? Come round my 'ouse, she says…"

"Magnificent! She wasn't afraid to look at me at all! Not one bit! Ah, she reminds me of my Medea!" Trode said a little too happy. Honestly, I don't know what is up with this guy sometimes, he gets excited really easily. I guess he does have a lot to be happy about after what he has been through though.

"We must give this young girl a helping hand!" He exclaimed. I think I get what he is going on about, but I wait for him to finish. "Right then, Van, my boy! Go and find this house by the well and see what it is she wants."

"Ok, but what about you?" I asked.

"Hm? Me? I'll wait here with the Princess. We don't want to cause any more of a stir."

Made sense, it wouldn't do us good to get chased out of town again. Yangus and myself went back up to the town's gates and didn't have any trouble getting in. People didn't seem to mind that we were just with the 'hideous monster' from just a few minutes ago. Now that we were by ourselves they could care less. Oh well, that's how things go sometimes I guess.

Yangus turned to me as we walked down the market. "She's an odd one, eh? Fancy askin' a funny old crew like us for 'elp! 'Specially wiv the old codger lookin' like a monster!" He seemed to laugh at the comment. "Wot was it she said? The house in front of the well, right? Better go an' see wot she wants, I s'pose."

We made our way out of the market and into the square, it looked deserted. I half expected us to get jumped again.

"It's late. Looks like everyone's fast asleep." Yeah, certainly looked that way, which was a very good thing. I didn't want to stay in this town for longer then I needed to. "I was worried we'd cause a stir like earlier, so this is a real stroke o' luck!" To right you are Yangus, we finally made our way up the stairs and past the bar. The house by the well was the last house, it was in a small corner, but it was a nice house. The door was open so we let ourselves in. There was a crystal ball in the room and the girl from before was asleep with her head on the table. I gently nudged her.

"Ah! You came!" She said with a start as she looked up. "I'm so sorry! I, I must have drifted off. How rude of me!" She said as she pushed the chair back and dusted her dress off. "I wanted to ask you a favour about this crystal ball." Ah, so that was it. I looked at Yangus, but he was just staring off into space.

"Sorry, I'm getting ahead of myself. Perhaps I should start from the beginning?"

"Yeah that would help." I said.

"Of course. Let me explain. My father, Kalderasha, was once a really famous fortuneteller. Lost treasure, missing people… There was nothing the Great Kalderasha couldn't help people with. But then one day he lost his powers. All of a sudden, nothing he foretold turned out to be true any more. It's probably because he stopped using a real crystal ball." She said as she moved to touch the ball. "This glass ball isn't…"

Just then the door opened and in stepped Kalderasha himself. "Valentina! What is going on here?" He stepped out of the door way and into the room, he was defiantly still drunk, he had stayed in the bar when all the commotion had gone on. "How many times have I told you not to touch my crystal ball?" It was then that he saw me. "What? Aren't you that boy from the pub? What brings you here? …Never mind! I do not know what my daughter has asked you, but you can forget it! I do not need your help! I am fine as I am." He wobbled on his feet for a second and then righted himself. "I am going to bed. Valentina! Say your farewells and show your young visitors to the door." And with that, he trod up the stairs.

"I'm sorry about my father. But whatever he says, he's the one who's really suffering since he lost his powers. That's why I wanted to ask you this favour. Can you find him a crystal ball? One that's big enough to bring back his powers?"

I didn't know what it was about this girl; maybe it was her pretty face, or the fact that she was like Medea. I just couldn't refuse her. "Sure, I will help."

"Really? You will? Oh, this is exactly how it all happened in my dream!" She said with a smile on her face, which brought one to mine as well. She seemed to be willing to do anything for her father. "So far everything's come true! I also dreamt that there's a crystal ball hidden deep inside the cave under the big waterfall to the south of town. I suppose only the daughter of the Great Kalderasha could know a thing like that!" Well, it was worth a shot and heck maybe after this little quest was done we could get something out of it. Maybe some gold, lost treasure sure sounded good. Trode and myself had only about 50 gold pieces on us and Yangus was penniless when he had joined up with us.

"Come on Yangus, lets go report back to Trode, he should know what's going on."

"Yeah, guess your 'ight, the old codger does need to know. Mind you…" He paused and let out a big yawn. I really couldn't blame him, I was tired as well, it was pretty late. "I'm pretty knackered. I thought givin' up the old bandit hood would mean I could keep more silverised hours! But life on the straight road don't seem no better in that area. Still, you know best, guv!"

That I do Yangus, I would make sure to treat the guy to a nice pint at the pub for his troubles after we reported to Trode.

Leaving the house we noticed that all the lights had gone off around town, everyone was defiantly asleep now and it wouldn't do us any good to make noise. I didn't notice that Yangus was right behind me though when he turned to close the door, his club that was on his back whirled around and hit me on the back of the head. I lumbered forward, my head in a daze from the hit and I fell down the well. I woke up to the sounds of Yangus shouting my name. The well was drier then I thought it was, but overall I still was a little wet.

"Guv, yer ok, come on, answer me!" Yangus shouted very worried. I looked up and could see him outlined in the well.

"Yeah Yangus' I'm fine. Just give me a second." I looked around the well, who ever had made this didn't do a very good job of it. The water was around a platform in the middle of it and it seemed very wide for just a well, almost as if it was used for something else.

It was then I noticed that there was something on the ground. Picking it up, I saw it was a small leather shield, it was a little worn, but other then that it was in fine condition and would prove valuable in combat. Just then the bucket was lowered and Yangus called out to me again.

"You can use this to get back out."

I grabbed onto the rope and Yangus started pulling the crank and I was able to grab the side of the well.

"Sorry guv, I didn't realize you was 'ight behind me." He apologized.

"It's ok Yangus, look what I got for the trouble." I said, pointing to the shield that was now on my left arm.

"Heh, maybe these things 'appen for a reason then eh?" I nodded and we went back to the west exit of town.

Once we got back, we found that Trode was sitting in the carriage. I guess he didn't want to take the chance of being caught off guard and could make a break for it if need be. "Hmm, I see…" He started and thought for a moment, taking in the information we had just told him. "Magnificent!" His yell startled me, making me jump back. "Such devotion to her father! I'm impressed! Just how a daughter should be! And if this Kalderasha gets his powers back, there's nothing he can't find, am I right?" I nodded. " Then we'll kill two birds with one stone! If everything goes according to plan, we'll find out where that hateful Dhoulmagus is."

Ah, I got his plan now. Kalderasha could find missing people too, and Dhoulmagus was as missing to us as anything. "But time's getting on." You could say that again, me and Yangus could barely stand anymore. "Medea and I will stay outside. That's the last time we set foot in a barbaric town like this. But you should spend the night at the inn and rest well, so that you're ready to take on the world tomorrow! In the morning, we leave for the waterfall cave!"

Great, now we get some sleep. Me and Yangus turned back to the town and proceeded to the inn. It was the best sleep I had had, well I really couldn't blame it on anything other then the fact that I hadn't slept a wink since I had left Trodain. It was good to finally get some shuteye. The innkeeper was generous enough to give us a free nights stay.

We went downstairs the moment we were fully awake, which took a while since I didn't want to get out of bed, but Yangus tossed the sheets out from under me. I was having a really good dream too. "Come on guv, the old man's waiting for us." He said.

"Good morning! Did you have a good rest?" Asked the innkeeper as we came down the steps. He really didn't need to ask, but it was nice nonetheless. "It was dark so I can't be sure, but I think the little old man you came with slept in his wagon outside the town gates last night. Anyway, have a safe trip."

As we walked out of the inn Yangus decided to speak up. "So Valentina reckons there's a crystal ball at the bottom of a big waterfall cave, eh?"

"Seems so." I said as I walked along.

Yangus cut me off again. "But she only got that from a dream, right? I know 'er Dad's a fortune teller an' all, but ain't this a bit of a long shot?"

I walked past him. "We won't know until we try, besides, there could be other things down there as well. Who knows what falls into the waters." That was all that was needed to convince Yangus, just the thought of treasure was enough to provoke him into action. We walked out of town.

"Ah, Van. I was starting to think you'd got lost. Right, let's go to the waterfall cave and see if we can find that crystal ball. Medea and I will be right behind you. If you have trouble, feel free to consult us. I'm sure there's nothing we can't solve if we put our heads together! Away we go!" Said Trode with a smile. Yangus and myself stepped in front of the wagon, it was always safest like this, there was no telling when monsters would pop out.

Walking down the path from town we certainly did encounter our fair bit of monsters. Lips, slug like creatures that had a thing for licking people. Drackies, little winged creatures, they were bat like but far from it, they had legs that ended in two little claws that they could grab onto things with and big mouths full of teeth. They were bloodsuckers and would ambush people by jumping from trees.

There were also some more interesting creatures in the area. Candy cats as we called them because of their unusual stripes. They had long tongues and tuffs of fur on their heads, which was actually the only fur on their bodies. They usually swiped at passer biers with their sharp claws after they attracted them by rolling around on the ground in a playful manner.

Finally there were peppers, giant peppers. They seemed to be skewed on a giant needle. I don't know if they did it themselves or not, but it is pretty freaky what you see in the world.

Anyway, it was around our 10th fight that we finally noticed we were heading the wrong way. The waterfall cave was to the south and we were heading west. So we turned ourselves around.

"It's terribly easy to get lost once you're out of town, so you be careful now, won't you, Van?"

I nodded to the King, we had already gotten into more fights then I had hoped for.

"That said, there are paths to most places, so I shouldn't have thought you'd have to many problems. The important thing is to stick to the main thoroughfares where there are fewer monsters. You remember that."

Again I nodded and started to head straight for the path.

"Nah, once you see where yer 'eaded, just forget about the path and go straight there. No messin'!" Said Yangus, disagreeing with the King rather quickly.

"Yangus, these monsters aren't really all that much of a push over when they attack in groups. If we get ambushed one more time, it isn't going to be pretty." I said, Trode seemed to agree with me, probably for Medea's sake.

"Awright, so there might be a few more monsters, but a real man don't need to worry about that!" He said proudly as he thumped his chest.

Sighing I followed his advice and we crossed the grassy plain to the path leading south. It really was much faster and I guess our luck was starting to get better as we had finally gotten more then 10 feet without another monster popping out at us.

Finally, I could see it. Waterfall cave. It was appropriately named, there was a big waterfall running from the top and along protruding rocks, it made the water split into three paths one on the right side and two on the left and they finally flowed down to a river that separated it and the land that we were on. The river didn't flow into any bodies of water that I could see, it seemed like it was formed. Like for irrigation purposes, but never used, probably because of the monster population. It was then that I noticed something. There was a shack on top of the mountain; it was small, but there I wondered who could possibly live there and felt inclined to investigate.

But that would have to come another time, right now we needed to get that crystal ball.

Making our way down the path, we saw the road split off to our left. I knew where this went, it lead to the southern pass. There was a check point station there, it was set up to make sure that anyone coming from or going to the southern continent had a reason for being there.

Trode's ancestors had set it up for times of war, it wasn't much to work with now, but back then it was a fine fortress. Or so I read in the castle library.

We went past a group of trees; I could see Drakies resting in them, best not make too much noise.

Unfortunately that wasn't Yangus' forte and his loud whistle alerted them. I glared at Yangus before we turned to confront our new foes.

They weren't much, only about the size of ones head accounting there wing span. They must have been young. Three of them, Yangus and myself could easily take on five of them by now; still we were tired from previous battles and hadn't had time to rest.

The first one swooped down; fangs bared and ready to make a quick meal out of me. I quickly drew my blade and slashed, it dodged around the attack and bit into my left arm, quickly drawing blood, which it proceeded to suck very loudly. I bashed it on the head with the butt of my sword, causing it to release my arm and fall to the ground in a daze. I swiftly stabbed it in the stomach; it writhed on the ground for a second before its essence floated in the air. I absorbed it and looked over to Yangus, he had both of the others on him, but he could handle himself well. He jumped back as one swooped down on him, but was caught on the side of the head by the other; he fell to the ground with an ack and seemed dazed.

I quickly moved to help him, slashing at both drackies, which caused them to flutter out of reach of my blade. I helped Yangus up, who seemed very grateful and swung his club just in time to bash the incoming dracky in the face. It fell to the ground and disappeared. The other wasn't to keen on ending up like his friends and escaped.

"Yeah, good riddance you bloodsuckers!" I yelled after them.

"Sorry guv. I was only whistling a tune, didn't quite see what you was looking at. If I 'ada known I wouldn't have done it."

I shook my head. "No don't worry about it Yangus. Just next time, don't start to whistle until you know for sure. In fact, don't whistle out here at all, who knows what will show up if you do."

Yangus nodded his head, it was then that he noticed my arm, it was still bleeding.

"Oh guv, because of me you got 'ourself hurt. Now I feel real awful."

I ignored him and took out the medical herb from before and pressed it against the wound. In no time the wound stopped bleeding and closed up. I was glad that we had that thing at all, or else we might have had to make a return to the town sooner then planned. After a quick rest we proceeded onwards.

We were just about to the cave when Trode spoke up. "I do hope you realize that the Princess and I have no intention of setting foot in that cave. We are royals after all. We can't go putting ourselves in danger like that. So I am relying on you to find the crystal ball!"

I nodded, but Yangus sort of glared at the King. I guess he felt that if he put his life on the line then Trode should as well. I really couldn't blame him but I wouldn't say it out loud.

It was then that I noticed that you could get around the back of the mountain by a small stripe of land that was between the river and the hill, the hill was kind of steep, but the stripe was fine. I so wanted to go around the back and explore, but right now we had a job to do. Maybe later I could convince the group if we could go see.

So we went, up to the mouth of the cave.

"It looks like we've found it. Naturally I'd love to come in with you, but I couldn't possibly put Medea in danger. I am sure you will do a fine job of finding the crystal ball without us, Van. We'll be waiting here. You be careful in there!" Said Trode.

I nodded and Yangus and I went inside.

It was dark, very dark. I guess no one lighted the place and the only light shown from the cave entrance. Great I thought, just what we needed to start wandering around in the dark.

I then noticed a small stick on the ground. It wasn't very big, but it would do for right now. I picked it up and cast a small sizz spell. It wasn't much, but it created fire large enough to ignite the wood. The cavern was rather large. Larger then I thought it would be, the cave entrance way was quite a sight. The cave mouth was on a platform attached to the rock face, below that was all water; it was quite a ways down too. A good 30-foot fall it seemed.

Ahead was a walkway that went to the next doorway, it seemed that the walkway was purposefully narrowed by pickaxes, this cave was probably used during times of war as a shelter and the bridge would be a good place to take out intruders since they would have hardly any room to fight. It was then that I noticed there were torches in front of us. I quickly light them as we went past. Drackies flew in all directions away from the light. They did tend to be night creatures. Unfortunately the light seemed to attract other beings.

Moles, four of them, no taller then my knee, but carrying shovels as large as they were. They came out of the hole in front of us with a dig-dug song going in a language I couldn't understand. They spotted us and stared for a moment before deciding that we were a threat and charged at us head on.

"This is going to be a problem." I said, currently I had my right hand full with my torch and it wasn't like I could just set it down either.

I batted the charging mole away with my shield, but was hit in the side by the blunt end of the shovel of another mole. Yangus already had his hands full with the other two, so I had no back up either.

The first one in front of me scrunched up his face and glowed with a purple light. Tension! I realized.

Oh, what is tension? Well it is when you focus your inner will. It takes great concentration and just like with absorbing monster essence only a few people can do it. If they can though it gives them a major advantage in battle. Attacks are swifter and more powerful and the body becomes resilient to attacks, it is overall a huge strength increase and it doesn't pay to be on the receiving end of it.

The other mole was already backing up his partner he rushed forward and tried to hit me with an overhead attack. I blocked it easily with my shield and slammed my torch into his torso, his furry body quickly caught fire and he scampered around trying to put the flame out, unfortunately for him, he wandered too close to the edge and fell off the side of the walkway. I could hear its scream as it plunged all the way down to the bottom and then a splash and nothing more.

The other one had finished charging its power and rushed forward. I was unprepared for the increase in speed and couldn't block in time as the shovel hit me straight in the chest. I sailed backwards and bowled over Yangus who was still fighting the two other moles. My torch was lost and sailed over the edge.

"Ah, guv this doesn't look good." Said Yangus as I got off of him. It was true that we were facing off against greater odds. The opponent could not only increase their power, but they also had a reach advantage. Small size was also another thing in their favor.

"No, we can win. Yangus help with this one." I pulled out my sword and rushed forward, Yangus not to far behind.

The three moles held their shovels up, ready for the attack. But it didn't come. I leapt over their heads and turned in mid air, slashing one across the back as I did so. It fell down to the ground and disappeared. The other two turned toward me, but Yangus was already on them, slamming both of them across the side, sending them into the dark waters below.

We sheathed our weapons and then turned toward the hole where the moles had come through. It was pretty dark. I couldn't see much and I didn't think there would be any more torches farther in either. There was also no way of knowing what we might run into on the way there.

I then looked down where the mole had been; the shovel was still there. I broke off the metal from the wood and stuck it in the nearest torch, it started to burn nicely.

"Well that solves that problem. Come on Yangus, let's find that crystal ball." We continued on through the hole.

In the next room we found that it split off into two different paths, one to our left and another to the right. They both seemed the same, but you never know in these caves. In front of us though was a chest. Yangus' eyes gleamed, he simply loved treasure, it called out to him and if he saw something he just had to have it.

Walking up to the chest I found that it didn't have a lock, either it didn't have one put on or something broke it off, either way it didn't matter. I lifted the lid, the chest opened with a load creak; one that I hoped didn't attract more monsters. Looking inside, there was only one thing, a dusty old piece of parchment. I unfurled it and found in the upper right corner the words. Waterfall Cave Map. How convenient, they must have kept this in here for who ever used the cave before, so they didn't get lost. What was strange though was the little arrow on the map, it showed exactly where we were, both me and Yangus when I looked closely, he was moving back and forth and it showed his little icon going back and forth as well.

"Must be magic." I muttered.

"Magic map eh, not to uncommon actually. People make them all the time so that they never get lost. Sometimes you just don't know where you are by the pictures, got to have another reference."

It made perfect sense, I had never seen one until now though. I glanced at it again and saw that both paths lead to the same area, however the path to the right was longer.

"Yangus were going right. We might find the crystal ball over that way." I said, he didn't seem to object and we went through the tunnel to the right.

The next room was very large, there were large pools of water on the left and right, a narrow walk way zigzag through the chamber and out the other side, the water gleamed off the cave walls, creating a shimmering effect and many stalagmites and stalactites had formed. Two had even joined together and now formed huge columns that were bigger then trees.

We walked forward onto the path and noticed something walking in this distance. It was hard to make out so we approached with caution. A figure became illuminated by our torchlight, it was a merchant. What could he possibly be doing here, he seemed rather frightened.

"Oh, sorry your torchlight scared me, I thought you might be one of the fire spirits that live here. I came to look at the waterfall and stumbled upon this cave! A waterfall cave… It's so intriguing! I was trying to explore, but I've gone and got myself completely lost!"

I nodded. He didn't have a torch, so I could see how he was getting himself turned around. I pointed out the opening to him and he thanked me graciously and handed me a bag. I looked inside and found a number of gold coins and another medical herb.

"Here, it isn't much but I am sure you need it more then I do. I found it lying around here in the cave, probably belonged to some poor soul who got lost in here as well. Also, come back to Farebury when you get the chance. I run the local armor shop and I want to give you something. Farewell and good luck."

He waved and left, stumbling in the water as he tried to find his way out.

Yangus laughed, but kept himself under control, he then turned to me and said. "This is like lookin' for a needle in an 'aystack! How are we s'posed to find a crystal ball in 'here' then, eh?"

"I don't know Yangus, it is pretty big, but if the crystal ball is as big as the glass ball that Kalderasha has then it shouldn't be to hard to spot."

"This place is nice on the eyes an' ev'ryfin', but the damp don't do nuffin' for me, I tell ya! I can't stand bein' all wet like this. Feels like I've 'ad an accident or somefin'!"

I laughed at Yangus' choice of words, he certainly didn't care what he said most of the time. If anyone had a problem with it, Yangus would let his fists do the rest of the talking.

"Yeah, the water that drips from the ceiling isn't helping things much." I said as I felt another splash of cold water.

It seemed that there was water all throughout the cave. I wondered how it got here. Probably ground water, but how did it get up from the ground, through the cave, up to the top and then to the river in the form of a waterfall. It was rather strange.

There was a fork in our path, it bended off to the right, it wasn't far from the wall, but in the light gleamed three more treasure chests. One on the right and two on the left right next to each other. There was small plant growth on the floor of the cave, moss. Deciding that we had better compensate ourselves for coming here, we opened all of the chests. A chimera wing, a medical herb and a leather hat is what we got for our trouble.

Yangus put the leather hat on after taking off his spiky helmet. He certainly looked strange, the hat was something one would wear in the desert, not to a cave. But Yangus thought it was better as the cloth was dry, unlike his helmet, which had begun to get condensation on the inside.

Eh? What's a chimera wing? Well, it is a wing from the monster Chimera, a sort of bird. It was a rather odd creature, it was scaly like a snake, but had the head and wings of an eagle. It could breath fire as well. I had never seen one before, but I had seen the wings. They were magical and could transport the user to any place they wanted, as long as they had been there before. It was a great way to make an emergency trip to a far off land, but sometimes these wings were hard to come by because Chimera tended to stay away from humans in high to reach places, sometimes they came down from the mountains in search of food though.

Anyway, we made our way back to the main path and headed right towards the next place. Torches lined the walls of this area and it didn't take us long before we came to another split. According to the map, the only thing to the left was where we had entered the cave. To the right were steps that lead farther into the cave system.

We headed right.

After descending the stairs I looked at the map again. I saw that there was a path that leads to a big room and from that, two paths, one that lead down and another with an arrow pointing on it. I remember that there was a small alcove at the bottom of the pit in the start of the cave. This area must lead back to that area. Maybe the crystal ball was there. I put the map away and looked back at Yangus. He was looking at the cave wall.

"Yangus, come on." I said, he jumped at the sound of my voice.

"Ah, guv! Don't scare me like that, thought yus' was still looking at the map.

"Sorry Yangus. Come on lets go." We then proceeded down the path to the large room. It was really beautiful, caves high up on the wall let water into the room, which filled two pools on both sides of the room. More moss grew here and had even started to grow up the large column in the room. In front of us was another entrance way however this had a large door on it that was partially broken. Don't know what caused it, but it was pretty massive. Then I noticed that there was something standing in the doorframe. It was too small to make out from here, but it looked like a monster of some kind.

I looked at Yangus, he saw it too. "We'd better go carefully 'ere, guv. Don't wanna get ourselves 'urt or nuffin'."

Nodding my head for what seemed like the hundredth time in the last couple of days, we walked forward with caution.

It turned out the little creature was a Hammer Hood. Little mushroom like creatures, they carried large hammers, which they swung at people. They were very strong and were known to increase their tension before attacking. However their small size compared to the hammer meant that they didn't have very good leverage and would often just fumble when they tried to swing it.

However we knew that we would have to fight it so we went up to it, weapons drawn.

"Well, well! You must be really brave to come up and talk to me like this!" It said. I was kind of stunned, I had never heard a monster talk before, they usually just attacked. "A man that looked like a peddler came along earlier, but when he saw me he ran away without saying a word! Anyway… As you've probably realized, you'll have to fight me if you want to go any further!"

Yangus and I nodded, still kind of stunned by this rather civil conversation.

"What do you think? Brave enough for that, are you?"

The both of us kind of laughed at that.

"Well of course we're brave, we came in 'ere didn't we?" Said Yangus. I nodded in agreement. Heh, I never actually considered myself brave before. Maybe I had finally gotten the courage to really begin this journey.

"R-Really? Y-You are brave. That means you must be really good fighters…" The hammer head became silent and looked to be in thought. "I know! In recognition of your bravery, I'm going to let you through!"

And with that he hobbled out of our way and stood off to the side, his hammer at his side.

"Off you go. Be careful now!"

I didn't know what to think really. Finally a monster we didn't have to fight, it was sort of making us ill at ease. Like he would just jump at us the moment our back was turned.

Slowly we walked past him, keeping one eye to make sure he didn't try anything funny. Finally we had gotten far enough into the tunnel to realize that he really meant what he said.

"That was a nice bit o' luck. Still, he seemed more like a coward then really strong. More bark then bite as they say." Said Yangus with a laugh.

Just as we were getting to the junction we heard a strange noise. It was something we had heard many times before. It was the sound of a slime jumping. Great, just what we needed. We rounded the bend and saw it there. It was actually rather small, it must have been a baby slime.

We slowly tried to walk around it, we didn't want to have to fight anything else while we were here and killing a baby wasn't our thing especially when it was alone.

However it turned toward us as we were walking away. It made a rather loud slurping sound it liked its slimy lips. "Guess what? This passage is a dead end! Do you believe me?" We nodded yes, agreeing with the slime, maybe it wouldn't get angry and we could go on our way.

"Yay! Then I'll tell you something good! It is a dead end, but there's a treasure chest up there!" It said rather happily with another loud slurp and it went off hopping around the tunnel.

Yangus and myself were pretty happy, more treasure. "Come on Yangus, it might be the crystal ball."

We followed the path down and around as it winded and came to another opening. Once through, as I thought it came to the bottom of the pit in the first room. In front of us was the chest that the slime spoke of. I opened it, but the only thing inside was a copper sword. Oh well, it was much better then the one I carried now.

I slung its sheath over my other shoulder. The two sheaths clinked together, but it was alright. Two swords per hand wasn't my style of fighting. Once we got to town, I would sell the old sword, it wouldn't be of much use. I sighed. It seemed like we would never find the crystal ball, maybe she was wrong after all.

"Where d'ya reckon that crystal ball is anyway?" Said Yangus as he looked around the open cavern.

"You don't think it's at the bottom o' the waterfall, do ya? We'll be stymied if it is!"

Indeed, I didn't want to take a dip to try to find it. The big lake in this room was scary from the outside and who knows how deep it was. I didn't want to think about what we would find on the inside of it.

"Come on Yangus, there was another path, it lead downwards. Maybe it ended up there some how."

Turning ourselves around we headed back to where we had met the slime and our T-junction.

As we got to the end of the new path we came upon something new. It was a wooden sign. The lettering seemed to be scratched into it rather roughly, it read.

WATERFALL AHEAD

NO LITTERING!

Heh, who ever use to live in this cave was really stingy about keeping the water clean.

We headed down the stairs. When we finally came out, the first thing we saw was a large waterfall that filled another underground lake. Torches lined the path that lead up to it and I could swear there was a faint twinkle ahead.

We quickly made our way up to the waterfall, there were no monsters in this area. Which really cave me the creeps, there was usually always monsters everywhere, but it was quite. As if there was something here that frightened them as well.

When we were within 20 feet of the waterfall I could see it. The crystal ball was right there, floating in mid air. It was defiantly a mystical object if it did that.

I reached out to touch it, glad to have finally claimed our prize, but luck seemed to have run out for us as there was a big splash and out of the water popped a large monster. It looked like a big red fish, but its tail fin wasn't the right way and it had clawed webbed hands. There was also a large scar on his forehead in the shape of an X. I had heard about these, they were called Mermaids, or a Merman in this case. He was obviously very strong as he was able to keep himself before us by using his tail to swim against the waterfall. He almost looked like he was flying.

"Wha ha ha ha. Surprise, surprise. I am Geyzer, master of this waterfall. Oh, how long it's been! How many people have gone and come! Ten long years and more I've waited! Ten years, I tell you! All the time hoping for the left one…I mean, the right one to come… Now for the moment of truth. Does this brystal call…er, crystal ball belong to you?" He said with a heavy slurring of his 's's.

"Yeah, we came to get it…" Before I could finish my sentence he spoke up again, but this time he seemed very mad.

"Ha ha ha haaa! At last! At last we feet, mace to mace, you halfwit human!" I tried to speak up, but he kept talking. "Now I'll teach you a moron! Argh! I mean a lesson you won't forget!"

He jumped out of the waterfall and tried to swipe at me and Yangus, but we moved out of the way. He slid past us and forced our backs to the waterfall.

"Ha ha ha. This is quite the predicament you have gotten yourselves into. No one has beaten me in combat, it's why I am the only one in this room anymore. The other monsters fear me. Let me give you a demonstration of my power."

He dug his claws into the ground and shoved off, flying through the air and then held his hands above him and brought them down in a vicious slash. I barely got out of the way in time, jumping backwards to safety, although I had jumped a little to far and was teetering over the edge of the path. Wind milling my arms to regain my balance I tried to at least direct my fall forward to grab the ledge, but Yangus was there to pull me back up.

"Careful guv, I don't know what this tuna fish has against us, but you can bet he ain't 'olding back."

I nodded to him and pulled my sword from its sheath. I leapt at the beast and made a slash at him. He blocked it with his arm, the hard scales protecting him from any damage. Unfortunately he took this opportunity to grab onto the sword.

"Ah, you humans and your weapons. You are so powerless without them." He said before ripping the sword from my grasp and flinging it into the water.

I reached for my new sword. It was a much better quality make then the other one, but I wasn't use to the added weight of it. However I didn't notice that Geyser had already brought his other claw up for a blow. It didn't hit me though, as Yangus knocked Geyser in the chest, which made him slide back a bit.

"Argh, that hurt." He said as he readied himself for another attack. This time though he pulled his claws down low and brought them high. I didn't know what he did until a large wave of darkness streamed forth. It rose from the ground and traveled along at a high speed, we wouldn't be able to avoid it.

The darkness was almost upon us and I shield myself, but just before impact a barrier of light formed in front of me. I had never seen anything like it before, it was very strange. However Yangus wasn't so lucky, he had taken the hit head on and he seemed unable to move. "Guv, it's a curse. I can't move my body at all." He spoke with his teeth clenched and strained. He even had trouble just speaking.

"Ha ha ha, I don't know how you managed to escape my curse, but your friend wasn't so lucky. Now to finish you off." Said Geyser as a light formed in his mouth.

A spell! I covered Yangus' body with my own as the Sizz spell engulfed us both. It was almost unbearable heat, but I held through it. Yangus was unharmed, but I wasn't so lucky. My back had been burned heavily and medical herbs might not even be enough to help this one. Though after the attack I could feel the skin on my back start to mend itself, the dried and broken skin becoming soft again. I could feel the vigor come back to me and I realized that I had just cast a spell of my own. Heal.

"Argh, magic you can use as well? It not matters you won't last against this next attack."

"Thanks guv, you saved my life again." Said Yangus as he recovered from the curse. He seemed to be able to move now.

I looked back at Geyser just in time to see him spring forward and bring his tail around to try to slap me with it. Yangus grabbed it though and swung Geyser in a wide arc and back into the pool of water.

"Thanks Yangus, though I doubt that's the last of him." Just as I said that there was an explosion of water as it traveled upwards, Geyser on top of it.

"Ahh, I will kill you." He brought his arm down for all it was worth, in my direction, but once again the attack was stopped. By Yangus' shoulder.

"Heh, you take an attack for me I'll take one for you guv." He said shakily as he slipped to his knees, blood flowing freely from his shoulder.

"Yangus!" I screamed. The wound was pretty bad. I was overcome with anger, this stupid beast. All it thought about was revenge for someone putting the crystal ball in the cave and Yangus and me weren't even to blame. Geyser formed his claws into a more compact shape intent on skewing me on them. I wouldn't give him the chance. I grabbed his hand with me left before it could reach me and thrust my sword into his forehead, right where the x shaped scar was.

He screamed in agony as he flailed about for a second. I withdrew my blade and sheathed it, convinced that the battle was over.

"Argh! The pain, the pain! Oh, my old wound! Ever since I got this, I've not been right quite. And it's all because of you!" He yelled and pointed his finger as I started to cast Heal on Yangus.

Glaring at him I yelled back. "I didn't put the stupid ball down here, we just came to get it for someone!"

"What? You don't know what I'm talking about…? Then you… You're not the true owner of this crystal ball! No! The shame, the shame! So strong! Strong enough to withstand my fearsome might! You are no tortune feller!"

"Well, duh. If you would have just let us explain…" Once again I was cut off. Yangus had fully recovered and was standing now. Geyser stared at me quizzically.

"Wait! Could you be…? The waterfall rears many humours, you know. I hear that a castle called Trodain has been cursed. That it was run over…overrun by thorns. And that only one person inside survived. He set off on a journey, leading a corse and hart with a lone driver."

I knew it was me who he was talking about, there was nothing to hide. I remember that night, I remember it all to well. I was on patrol as usual, it was the night shift though and rather late, but the change of guard would be coming soon and I would get to go to bed. But then it happened, the night was shattered by the sound of a vile scream and thorns shot out of everywhere. Long thick tendrils creeping everywhere, engulfing everything. I was too scared to run and before I knew it I was attacked. I blanked out and came to many hours later. The whole castle was covered in thorns and I was the only one who had survived untouched. I never did figure out how I had escaped, but if this curse and Geyser's were the same, then the light that had protected me earlier.

"Yeah, it was." I said to Geyser, not quite knowing what he was getting at.

"As I thought! It was you! I don't know what you want with this crystal ball… But it's yours now. I accept dehands… Or is it defeat?" He said as he grabbed the ball and handed it to me.

Finally. I reached out and took it from him and put it in my bag.

"One last thing! Should you meet the true owner of this crystal ball, tell him this from me!" He said as he was turning to leave. I nodded my head.

"DON'T THROW THINGS IN THE FALLWATER! So, ware thee fell! Oh, the pain, the pain! The pain of my old wound!" And with that he turned and dived down into the water again.

"I s'pose that Geyzer geezer's 'ad a bit of an 'ard time of it, really. I mean, getting' whacked on the 'ead like that wiv a crystal ball! Must be awful not bein' able to talk proper, like. But why'd Kalderasha throw it away in the first place? That's wot I don't get."

"I don't get it either, but it isn't doing us a bit of good to just stand around here anymore. Let's head back."

We had gotten back up to the second level of the cave when Yangus brought up something I had hoped he wouldn't. "That Geyzer said somefin' a bit odd back the, eh? You know. That thing about the thorns and the castle and only one person survivin'… Wot was 'e on about, eh?"

I stared coldly at Yangus. I really didn't want to talk about the subject. "Nothing, lets just drop it."

"Come on then, how can we be friends if you ain't 'oing to tell me what happened."

"Yangus, I said shut up!" I yelled, drackies fleeing from the sound as it echoed through the cave with a loud 'shut up'. "Sorry Yangus, I just really don't want to talk about it right now."

"Ok guv." Yangus stayed silent for most of the trip back up through the cave. I noticed that we hadn't been attacked ever since we had left the bottom floor, the monsters must have heard that Geyser had been beaten and were now avoiding us instead.

Finally we had reached the first floor and were walking down the long walkway when Yangus finally started to talk again. I guess he thought that I had had enough time to cool down. "Well, we've got wot we come for. No point 'angin around in this damp old place no longer. Let's 'ead back to town and get that crystal ball to Valentina. She must be dyin' to see it, eh?"

"Yeah."

Just as we exited King Trode ran up to us. "Van, Yangus, you were certainly gone for a while. I was beginning to get worried the monsters had gotten you."

"Yeah, we did have quite a bit of trouble with them. Mostly this merman called Geyser, sort of the boss of the place. He was pretty strong, apparently he has a grudge against the person that threw the crystal ball into the cave because it hit him on the head. He attacked us, but we put him in his place." I said.

"Not only that, but Geyser even knew about the castle and you and the guv and him being the only survivor, something about the waterfall bringin' rumors to him. Said Yangus.

"Goodness! All that happened inside a cave? It's extraordinary that this Geyzer monster knew all about us… But how preposterous to say that you rescued me from the castle! It was I who rescued you! These monsters never get their facts straight! Preposterous, I tell you!" Said Trode with flourish.

It really was funny how he tried to deny it. After all he was the king and if the king couldn't help himself then what kind of king would he be. Still, when I had found Trode in the castle he was a quivering mess. Monsters had already started to move into the castle and the thorns themselves still moved to attack.

I had managed to cut some away just before Trode would have been wrapped up in them. I grabbed him and ran out into the castle courtyard before anything else could go wrong. We had managed to find a buggy and saddle and enough supplies for a while. Still it wasn't anything compared to what we use to have.

I sighed, it would all be over once we captured Dhoulmagus and we were one step closer to that goal. I pulled out the crystal ball from the bag and looked at it. Yangus had come up from behind me and stared at it too.

"You can tell that crystal ball's a real'un. Glows better, like. Bet we'll get a good fortune outta this one, eh? I can always spot when a thing's worth somefin'. I was famous for it back in me younger days."

I laughed as I replaced the ball. Yangus always liked to talk about his younger days, he talked as if he was the greatest bandit that ever lived. I knew he was just playing it up though, but I let him have his time in the spot light.

"Right! Time to return to Farebury and have Kalderasha tell us where to find Dhoulmagus! That's why we went to all the trouble to get the crystal ball, after all." Said Trode as he smiled.

Yangus however wasn't so pleased. "Oy! Wot trouble did you go to, granddad? It was the guv an' me that done all the 'ard work!"

"You ignorant imbecile! Don't you realize that when my subject suffer, I suffer?" Retorted Trode with a huff.

"Subjects? Since when 'ave I been your subject?" Yelled Yangus as he tried to pull himself up into the driver's seat of the carriage. I didn't think these two would ever get along.

I sighed as I put a hand on Medea and pulled out the Chimera wing we had just found in the cave and threw it in the air, thinking of Farebury. A moment later we were turned into light and shot off into the sky, only to land a split second later at the entrance to the town.

Trode and Yangus looked around in confusion at the sudden change of scenery, but I casually pulled Yangus off the carriage and over to the doors.

"We'll be back in just a bit. It shouldn't be too long."

"Uh, right. I'll just wait here in the carriage then." Said Trode, still in a daze after the trip.

Yangus finally got loose from me and seemed a little steamed. "Oy, what was 'hat for?"

"You were arguing like a couple of kids, honestly I don't know how you guys spend 5 minutes sometimes without ripping each others throats out."

Yangus looked down at his feet and shuffled them. "I just don't like being talked down to is all. I been talked down to all me life I just can't stand it anymore."

Hm, so that was it. I would have to speak with Trode about this, if it would help solve the problems of the group and get me some peace and quite for a few weeks, at least until they found something else to argue about.

Just then a man in red robes and a red hat came walking right in front of us muttering to himself. "Well, that worked out rather well, what with that Kalderasha being on the bottle and all!" It was then that he noticed he wasn't alone and turned toward us. "D-Did you just hear that? Well, never mind. You wouldn't understand what it's about anyway."

And with that he walked off to the church.

"That was weird. Well, come on Yangus, we have a job to complete." My friend nodded and followed right behind me.

When we arrived at the house. The door was unlocked and Kalderasha was sitting at the table. Not wanting to be rude we went to speak up, but were stopped.

"I knew you would return before long. And it seems you have done as Valentina asked. You see! Even with a glass ball, the Great Kalderasha's eyes see further then you realize! But you are meddling in matters that do not concern you. And you are wasting your time. You can bring back my crystal ball as many times as you like. I will just throw it away again!"

I glared at him, last thing poor Geyser needed was to have this thing bump him on the head again. "You know, you shouldn't throw things in the waterfall, it might open up an old wound."

Kalderasha looked at me with confusion. "Don't throw things in the waterfall? It might open up an old wound? What the heck are you talking about?" He then got up from his seat. "Enough! Listen to me! No one knows why I threw away my crystal ball. Even Valentina has no idea. I'm not about to confide in a stranger." He then reached out with his hand palm up to us. "Give it to me! This time I will smash it into a million pieces, so it never finds its way back to me again!" He shouted.

"Stop!" A new voice rang out. I knew that voice, it was Valentina. Looking past Kalderasha, she was standing by the entrance to the kitchen "Please stop, Father! I know! I've known for ages…" She looked down to the ground, almost in shame. "I know why you threw away your crystal ball."

"You, you know…? So you know about your real parents?"

"Yes. And I don't blame you for their death." She was beginning to cry now.

"Why not? How can you not blame me, Valentina? How can you not hate me?" Kalderasha was starting to cry as well.

"Because you were just fortune telling. Just doing what you do best. I was too young to remember, but…you were once a truly great fortune teller, weren't you, Father?" Kalderasha lowered his head in shame. "No one knew where my parents had fled to. But to you, it was as clear as day."

Kalderasha was silent. He looked to the ceiling. "Back then, there was nothing I could not see. The Great Kalderasha was known all over the world. I was walking on air. Fortune telling was my life. It was my soul." He then looked back down at Valentina. "I thought only of myself. Be they good or bad, I cared not who asked me to use my crystal ball. I lived for the vision!"

"It's all right, Father. You're a good man. You took me in and raised me, didn't you? When I was just a helpless baby. I want to see it for myself. I want to see the Great Kalderasha in all his glory! I want to see your magnificent powers at work again, Father."

Kalderasha now broke down in tears. "Oh, my sweet Valentina…"

Yangus and myself turned to leave, it was already pretty late and Trode probably was wondering what was taking so long. "Wait, travelers. I need to thank you properly. Please stay at my house for the evening, it wouldn't do to make you stay at the inn." I looked towards Yangus, he seemed really sleepy, can't really blame him though, being in that cave for so long really messes with your sense of time and after the fight with Geyser we were both more tired then I thought we were.

"Ok, we'll stay here."

It was several hours later when I woke up. Unlike last time, I was the first one awake. I threw off my covers and pulled myself out of the bed. Yangus was still sleeping like a baby. I thought about waking him up the same way he did me, but I thought against it, I may have healed his wound, but he had still lost quite a bit of blood, he needed this rest more then I needed mine the last time.

I went downstairs, my stomach growling; I wonder what they usually have for Breakfast here. When I made it downstairs Kalderasha was up and at his table.

"So you are awake at last! It is already past midday. You must have been exhausted." Midday, I thought. Man I wasn't kidding when I said that the cave messed with your sense of time.

"I must thank you and your friend. Look! I have put my crystal ball back where it belongs." He said as he raised his hands to put them on the ball. "Many years have passed since I gazed into the crystal like this… I have to thank you for returning it to me." After he said those words a bright light shown from the ball. Kalderasha and myself jumped back in surprise. "W-What is this? Yes, yes! I see it! I see it! There is a jester! A jester breaking through the southern checkpoint! Yes! The mists are clearing!"

I leaned forward, trying to see these images, but I could only see the light.

"And the same jester murdered Master Rylus! Yes! Yeeesss! The mists are clearing!"

Just then the light in the ball started to give way to darkness. "Ah? Can it be…? Surely not… He has changed, but there can be no mistake. It has to be Master Rylus's former pupil… Dhoulmagus!" He ended with a shout. Which was enough to cause Yangus to get up with a start.

"Huh? Wot?" I heard him shout, it wasn't long before he came running down the stairs, his steps causing the whole house to shake. "Guv! He said Dhoulmagus, right? That's our man! That's the evil magician you an' the old granddad are after, innit? So where'd 'e go after that? Wot else can yer deduct?"

Kalderasha stared hard at his ball. "What else…? Let me look deeper." He said as he began to get closer.

"Hm? What's this…? Yes, no question. This is definitely my old crystal ball. But, look here! It has been chipped. Hm! It must have hit something very hard to do this damage. And look! Someone has scratched some letters next to the chip…" He explained, as he looked closer at the mark. I knew immediately what caused it.

"What? Halfwit? Who's the halfwit? What ignorant lowlife would do this to my crystal ball?"

"You wot? When I asked wot else yer could see, I didn't mean ON the ball, I meant IN the ball! Wotever! Oh, come on, guv!"

I however was too fixed on Kalderasha to care about what Yangus had to say. "I see you are troubled. So you came to ask Rylus about Dhoulmagus, but when you arrived Rylus was already dead. And now the circumstances surrounding his death have cleared. It was none other then Dhoulmagus who killed Rylus. Perhaps he is trying to eliminate everyone who knows who he is. Or perhaps he has other motives. Even I do not have all the answers! But through the mist I see this Dhoulmagus breaching the checkpoint as he moves south. There is a small village called Alexandria in that direction. I can tell you no more."

He then reached into his shirt and pulled out a small bag. "I thank you for everything you have done. I wish you good fortune on the journey ahead." I opened the bag and inside was a pretty large amount of coins, I was surprised, but nodded my head in thanks. I then went to the door and went outside, Yangus following me with a shout of. "Wait up guv!"

Walking out the door and into the square I realized that we had forgotten something. "Crap, we forgot about Trode. He is probably going ballistic wondering where we are!" I exclaimed. I ran for the entrance to town, Yangus right on my heels.

When we arrived it looked like Trode had everything ready. He ran up to us with a bright smile and didn't seem mad at all. I guess he has more faith in us then I thought. "So? What happened? Did you do what the young girl asked? Hm? Well?" He questioned.

"Yeah we did and we found out some interesting information. It seems that Dhoulmagus headed south and also it seems that he was the one that killed Rylus." Trode let that sink in for a second and then yelled.

"WHAT? Dhoulmagus killed Master Rylus? The same Dhoulmagus we're looking for? That fiend killed his own teacher? And you say he headed south? Then there's no time to lose, Van! We must go after him at once! Let's be on our way!" And with that Trode skipped back to the carriage and climbed into the driver seat.

"Hold on Trode, we have something we need to do in town first. We are kind of low on supplies. Foods been getting low the last few days and not to mention we could use some medical herbs and we also need to get new weapons and armor."

Trode looked at us with a quizzical look on his face. "Oh and how do you expect to pay for all of that? Hmm, in case you forgot we only have 50 gold, enough for some food and medical herbs, but not nearly enough for armor or weapons. You will just have to make dew with what you can find."

I then handed him the two bags we had gotten. Trode's expression changed quickly. "Van, where did you get these?" He asked.

"From a merchant in the cave, he owns the armor shop and wants to give us something for helping him out. The bigger one is from Kalderasha for helping him." I said.

"Well, we now have over 5,000 gold, quite the increase. Hmm, maybe we should stop and help people more often; it certainly would solve our money problems. All right Van, you go and get the supplies, but hurry. Every second you spend in town is another that Dhoulmagus gets ahead of us.

We headed for the market and looked for the armory. It was pretty easy to spot, there were shields and cloths all over the place. "Oh hello." The merchant greeted us. "I had almost thought you weren't going to come." He reached under the table and grabbed three things. Two leather armors and a leather shield.

"I thought that you might need these on your coming journey." I was quite shocked, how had he known that we were going away. "Ah, your look tells all my friend. The town was in quite a stir today after you gave Kalderasha back his crystal ball. It is nice to have our old fortuneteller back to his old self. We all feel that you should receive something from us. The weapon shop owner would like to give you something as well. Oh and there is something else as well. Go to the top of the church, there is something waiting for you there. I would give it to you in person, but it is quite questionable and I don't want anyone to find out about it."

So we left the market, our new armor and Yangus' new shield in hand and went up the stairs to the weapon shop.

It was quite a sight, all the weapons that lined the walls. A burly man with a horned helmet was behind the counter. "Ah, good the armor shopkeeper told me all about you. Come in, come in." He also reached under the counter and brought up a number of items. It included two cypress sticks for torches, a Giant Mallet for Yangus and a Boomerang for myself. "These should serve you very well, the finest make for around here."

Yangus replaced his old wooden club with the new iron one and I placed my boomerang in its holder on my back, the two sticks would be placed in the carriage for when we needed them.

"Well, now we just need to get some food and medical herbs." I said as we descended the stairs.

These two shops were right next to each other right by the southern entrance to town.

Like the armor and weapon shop, we received a number of free items for helping the town. I almost wondered if we would spend any gold on this trip at all.

"Guv, was there something else? Something about the church?"

I remembered, the armor shop owner had said to check out the church roof. We made our way back up the stairs and too the church. It was getting late, so there wasn't anyone around except for the pastor.

"Greetings my sons. Good of you to join me tonight. Is there anything I can help you with, you know I am always here when you might need to confess something." Yangus looked at me and pulled me into a whisper for a sec.

"Guv, what are we going to do? We can't just say that the armor shop owner said that he left something for us on the roof, he said he didn't want anyone else finding out about it."

I remembered those words, but also thought about what the priest had said. I turned back to the man in red robes.

"Yes Father, my friend here would love to confess all that he has done."

"Wot?" Yangus exclaimed as the priest then took Yangus by the shoulder and led him to the confession booths.

"No need to worry yourself, all is forgiven in the eyes of the Goddess." He said, thinking he was comforting him.

Once they were inside the booths, I headed for the top of the church. Once I did find it the sun had already set and the stars had come out. It was quite a nice view from out here really although the bell took up a bit of room. It was then that I found what I had come up here for. A small piece of paper with the words, Thief's Key on it, I didn't quite know what it was, but it had the diagram of a bronze knife and an iron nail. I thought it quite strange, but it might mean something to Trode. Speaking of the King, we needed to get back to him.

I went downstairs to retrieve Yangus. The priest and him were just getting out of the booths.

"Ah, there you are. You know, your friend is a piece of work. I really fear for him when judgment from the Goddess comes.

"His past may be questionable, but he is a good man. He cares a lot for those around him. Thank you for your time Father. You might see us again sometime." I said as I waved goodbye.

Once outside Yangus pulled me down to his level and looked me in the eyes. "Don't, ever, do that, again." He said as he let me go and started to walk off, but then turned around and made a funny face and ran for the gate. That Yangus sometimes, don't know if he is joking or not.

When we returned to Trode he was ecstatic that we had gotten everything for free. "That settles it." He said. "The moment an opportunity comes along where we can help people we will, maybe we could even talk them into a nice bed for myself to sleep in." I chuckled. He really did mean well, but that didn't mean that he still didn't want something in return.

"Well, lets get going. Our next destination is South!" I said as we turned our heads toward to southern checkpoint.

CHAPTER END


End file.
